It is common for consumer articles to be grouped and packaged for sale in bulk. For example, soda cans are often grouped and packaged into cardboard or paperboard “cases” of 12 or 24 cans. To accomplish this packaging, a conventional horizontal packaging system involves mechanical components that associate a cardboard or paperboard carton blank with the cans as they are moving horizontally along a conveyor. The mechanical components then bend and glue flaps of each carton blank during its horizontal movement along the conveyor in order that the cans within the carton blank can be secured therein.
Although a horizontal packaging system can achieve extremely high packaging rates, it typically involves complex machinery that is cost-prohibitive for producing only small to medium quantities or “specialty” packages of packaged articles. On the other hand, the conventional method for packaging small to medium quantities of packaged articles involves hand-loading, and hand-loading has proven to be overly time-consuming and expensive for many of these packaging requirements. Accordingly, there is a need for a cost-effective but sufficiently fast method, apparatus, and system for producing only small to medium quantities of packaged articles.